Mr_Grumpums

I tried out a humanform PB once. I spent the entire time playing it thinking "Do you know what would make this a lot more awesome? Dwarf form." Nova form wasn't missed terribly, but lacking Dwarf form HURT. It's just one power slot, but you get a bunch of powers out of it that make melee much safer. Getting something like Pulsar instead feels like shooting myself in the foot.

A pure humanform Warshade is pretty manageable, but picking the right combination of powers can be important. I suggest you read guides before making one. Keeping enemies clumped together would be very important, as would having a few attacks to fell a minion or two very easily. Nebulous Form makes activating Eclipse, Sunless Mire, and Stygian Circle easier, as well as using slow moves like Unchain Essence safely. Lastly, you can stack Stuns with Inky Aspect and Gravitic Emanation, and you get VERY powerful pets with Unchain Essence.

Demon/Storm. I'm going to be VERY happy once I get Freezing Rain and Hurricane, but the little buggers seem to be doing alright with just Gale and O2 Boost to back them up for now. I've decided to hold off on the attacks for now, but I might pick up one or two later.

I enjoy the DP/Ice Blaster I have on Test. Shiver, Chilling Embrace, and Cold Ammo are great for slowing down enemies, and Ice Patch is awesome for making a killing field with Fire Ammo (Normal Ammo attacks might knock them out of its area, so I just go for the added damage). My absolute FAVORITE trick is to use Shiver and Ice Patch to hold enemies in place and unable to attack while I fire off the LRM Rocket and then demolish whatever is left with DP's AoE attacks. I ended up skipping /Ice's melee attacks entirely, though I sort of wanted to get the ST hold...

A DP/Mental Blaster has Drain Psyche, Mind Probe, World of Confusion, and Psychic Shockwave. These are all awesome powers (though World of Confusion really needs some big-time slotting to be effective, like a Purple IO set) that need you to be close to the enemy. You can also throw in Psychic Scream or a weak enemy fear (the fear power seems to work best in PvP). Personally, I think this is the best combination, since it doesn't require any strategy at all to lay down some significant control and protection while you shoot stuff in the face.

DP/Energy is very straightforward. It'll give you Build up at level 4, Boost Range so you can shoot from farther away, Power Boost to temporarily increase the secondary effects of DP's ammo types, and some sweet ST melee attacks.

Scrappers and brutes. They kill fast and are very durable. A Claws/WP or SS/WP Brute is a PvE killing machine, and I personally really like my Dual Blades/WP Scrapper.

I like WP in PvE.

If you want to PvP then you might want to go for a SS/Fire Brute, BS/Regen Scrapper, or Fire/Regen Scrapper.

Regen is what I call a "Clicky" set. You have to pay a lot of attention to it when fighting. Willpower is mostly toggles and auto powers. The only powers you don't just leave on all the time are Strength of Will and the rez.

In PvE, a /Willpower Scrapper has a mix of healing, resistance, and defense that means you'll usually recover from more damage than you take. Softcapping its defense means that you're nearly invincible. In PvP the regen toggle isn't as good, defense has been nerfed globally, and its resistance isn't even close to being able to compete with a pure resistance set like Invuln.

In PvE, Regen has relatively few resistances, and defends itself purely by healing as much as possible to try and keep up with the damage you're taking. It's doable, but harder than playing a /WP. The changes to PvP add resistance to a /Regen scrapper, and Moment of Glory's short duration isn't as big of a deal when you're trying to take out a Blaster with insanely high damage and very little health.

I might as well point out that /Elec has some solid melee attacks and can do very well in PvP. My Mind/Elec's build isn't even finished, but it does extremely well.

I like my Earth/Therm. It has two resistance buffs, forge, and heals that will make your golem almost unstopable as it wades into the middle of large groups. Rocky pulls enemies in closer with its taunt, making your controls and /Therm debuffs work on a larger percentage of the mob. Rocky's taunt is also great for drawing aggro after you use an AoE attack like Fireball or Fissure.

It's a fun, solid solo controller that is pretty easy to use compared to an Earth/Storm, but it won't really be a character that will wow anyone in the damage department. Earth/Storm and Earth/Rad will both also do more for control and debuffing, as well earth/cold. Earth/Sonic or Earth/Empathy will have more support. The real draw is that it's a very well rounded toon with a combination of mezzes, holds, healing, support, and a little bit of debuffing.

I've played an Earth/Storm and an Earth/Therm, and I'd honestly flip a coin between them. It depends on what you like to play. Earth/Therm DOES look really cool with both the Crystal and Lava animations, though. The lava golem with both shields and Forge on looks awesome.

Gotta say that the combination of Scourge, FS, and RoA is very tempting, but I already have a Kin/Archery Defender that I really like. The damage output is significantly lower, to be sure, but the powers he picked up from Psychic Mastery making him a combination Troller/Buffer with damage nearly on par with that of a blaster and a whole lot more survivability. Also, using Telekinesis to hold a group of enemies against a wall while you use them as targets for your Kin powers and then demolish them one by one is just plain awesome. The epic pools were what decided it for me.

Looks like a fun build. As an alternative to the actual reliability of PFF, you might consider investing heavily into Elec Mastery for EM Pulse and Surge of Power. My friend's build uses EM Pulse right after Psychic Shockwave, and Surge of Power has a very cool micro-nuke effect when the power deactivates. He also uses Static Discharge on top of Psychic Scream for added damage.

Power Mastery looks smarter to me, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I agree with StormDevil. Stacking Stamina and Quick Recovery early on migh tlook like overkill on paper, but you'll really end up wanting it before level 41.

I would also get rid of Focused Accuracy and Hurl and replace them with Hasten and Conserve Power. Hasten allows you to STACK Rage, which will give you more ToHit buffs over all anyway and costs less endurance to do. Conserve power will really help you recover from those Rage, Strength of Will, and Hasten crashes, allowing you to keep going after a big crash without having to rest.

I agree with a lot of things in your guide, Haze, but I've got to say that I think Quicksand is one of THE BEST powers in the set. That 25% defense debuff is huge for a click and drop AoE power, and makes all of the enemies in its radius almost helpless to defend against your AoE holds, KDs, and mezzes. It's especially great for Stalagmites, which has a very low base accuracy. It's one of the powers in the set that I use the most.

I'll mention the AoE Immob thing again, too. As long as you aren't trying to use it on green or lower enemies, Earthquake will just bounce around enemies in its radius while you go to town with your hammer. If someone throws down an AoE immobilize then the mob can't move around, but they can just shoot you from a distance, while they'd be unable to attack at all if left bouncing around in Earthquake. THERE IS AN EXCEPTION TO THIS! STONE CAGES WORKS VERY WELL WITH WATER SPOUT AS A MEANS OF DAMAGING AND MEZZING ENEMIES WITHOUT SENDING THEM FLYING ALL OVER THE MAP.

Lastly, you didn't mention the Stun in Fissure, which I find as useful as the Knockdown and the damage. The stun doesn't activate 100% of the time, but it's still useful for stacking stuns on mobs.

The Epic pool selections for this set really give you a chance to personalize an Earth/Earth. Soul Mastery's Soul Drain is amazing when used on enemies who are on a space with stacked Quicksand and Earthquake, and it's also good for using dark Consumption. Mu Mastery's Surge of Power will give you more resistance while you're running around in melee against enemies much less squishy than you are, and it has Power Sink. Mako Mastery has Water Spout, which works well with Stone Cages and Quicksand as another means of mezzing enemies.

Hope anything I've put down is helpful. Please don't get discouraged by any criticism of your guide. People are just trying to help you improve on it. We post because we care!

I almost never see Energy Corrupters at higher levels, but I see the occasional Elec/Therm Corrupter wandering around. They use Power Boost from Widow Mastery along with their Sapping powers to play Buffer/Sapper/healer.

What I REALLY don't see that often, and this surprises me, is Ice corrupters and defenders.

/NRG blasters are great for Boost Range, true. Power Boost is also great for boosting secondary effects that might keep enemies away, like the Knockback in the Energy primary. It also gets Build up at level 4, which is great, and Conserve power at lv 16 to help with endurance management.

/Ice is another one that works well for ranged blasters, since it has Ice Slick and Shiver to keep enemies from reaching you, and chilling embrace for when they manage to break through.

/Devices lacks Build up, which I don't like, but it has a whole lot of tactics that make it possible to wipe out enemies without using your primary (aside from pulling). My brother loves those narrow hallways and cave tunnels, since he can block them off entirely with Caltrops. He lays down mines in front of the caltrops, and a gun turret behind them, forcing enemies to take piles of damage from the mines and take forever wading through Caltrops while the Turret is chewing them to pieces. While it has the aggro, you have a prime opportunity to open fire with attacks from your primary.

Just saw your post. Rad/MM, in the build I've seen played by a friend, is a near-suicidal blaster that works best in melee where it can make use of Psychic Shockwave, Irradiate, Drain Psyche, and World of Confusion. It's /okay/ at range, but if you want a pure ranged blaster than you'd probably prefer something else. This puppy is a PBAoE Blapper. My friend makes liberal use of break frees and Surge of Power when playing his, relying on blues, drain psyche, and periodic resting. He stacks Psychic Shockwave and Cosmic Burst to Stun bosses, and poured a lot of money into his build for as much recharge and damage as possible.

His build is able to do some crazy things that no one else would WANT to try, but it fails spectacularly just as often as it succeeds.

Peacebringers are easier to play if you like melee attacks and don't want to do as much form swapping. They've got sweet Melee attacks, some ranged hits, and Photon Seekers for a close-range big boom. The most commonly effective Peacebringer is a Human/Dwarf form build that leaves out the ranged Nova Form so you can focus on beating things up close.

Warshades have powers that tend to effect more enemies. It also seems to have a bigger variety of powers, so I find it harder to focus on one aspect of it. Right now, my Warshade uses the heck out of its pets for extra damage and relies on Eclipse and Dwarf Form for durability, Nova Form for additional AoE damage, and Human Form to fill in gaps in control or mezzing. How I play it really varies between the three roles depending on the team I'm on.

Go for it. Bi-Forms were considered much more useful than Tri-Forms for a long time before they changed how Kheldian inherents worked. Try and focus on the Human Form's mezzes and pet summoning as well as its attacks. You'll get some really sweet results.

I can't find more lore than has already been posted. I personally RP'd my Peacebringer as a reject combination of a man with a mean sense of humor who was recently fired from a suicide hotline and a Kheldian who blew holes in Space/Time just to see what would come out.

His leaders felt he was the perfect candidate for a permanent assignment guarding the Earth's moon. He got out of it, though, by strafing a suburban house while claiming that he had believed the telescope a twelve year old boy had pointed at the moon had been a rifle from a distance.

The problem was that he strafed the house AFTER he knew it was a telescope.

Fun character.

Nebulous Form is my Warshade's fourth form. I use it to activate Eclypse in the middle of a group with ease, In conjunction with Shadow cloak for stealthing missions, escape from fights....EVERYTHING! It's like Phase Shift, only you can use your human form powers to fight and heal while it's active. It also has a jump boost that works pretty well with Ninja Run when you have to escape a wipe and teleportation or flight would be cumbersome, like in caves. It's a great swiss army knife power that makes almost any human form tactic much easier.

My DM/Nin Stalker prioritizes his targets before using AS. If there isn't anything especially tough, he'll AS an enemy that might live through it who is closes to the center of a group for the demoralize. If there is an enemy that will give him a hard time, he'll finish that one off and duke it out/escape as needed.

Either way, he also has Touch of Fear, Blinding Powder, the immobilize in Midnight's Grasp, and Shadowmeld to use as well as his attacks, heals, and defenses. It's a very well-rounded character.

Since we're talking about extremely effective duos now, how about dual Fire/Rad Controllers? Twins of everything you love about a Fire/Rad that gain great powers right out of the box, and only get better.

At high levels, a Fire/Kin will out-perform a Fire/Rad in out and out murdering, but the trip is the important thing, and twin Fire/Rads can stack, well, EVERYTHING. Stacking /Rad debuffs, Stacking holds, Stacking Flashfire, Stacking Hot Feet, Stacking AM, Stacking heals for when you take damage, and later on you'll be rocking SIX Fire Imps who will hurtle around rooms melting the faces out of your irradiated opponents.

My friend and I made this duo, and she wanted to name them Fat Man and Little Boy.

I refused the names, but the duo was still awesome.

My Claws/Elec doesn't match the survival or a Claws/WP, but if you're sick of /WP, this will be a nice break. Energize heals, increases regeneration, and reduces endurance cost, so you want it to be as close to perma as possible. This set won't be a god tanker, but I can solo most EBs pretty easily. The only EB I've been utterly unable to solo was Silver Mantis. I find it to be a clicky, fun brute that fires off a lot of AoE damage. Paired with a sturdier brute, he's a monster.

I'm probably not the first person to mention this (my eyes got all glassy after reading the first two pages), but a lot of Kinetic Combat's animations looked like pretty, scifi versions of the movements I perform every morning during my tai chi set. Pairing it with Super Reflexes or EA seems like a natural option, but I'm betting that a lot of those attacks will eat up endurance. Willpower looks like a good option to me, simply because of Quick Recovery.

...Also, you just can't go wrong with Willpower. It's nearly impossible.

Since I've been playing my SS/SR brute a lot, lately, I'll probably roll this set for a Stalker. Also, the extra knockback might make it more survivable.

This is basically my build, though it's currently at lv 44. Taking into account your advice on playing my brute, I managed to also keep up my survivability a bit, but he generates big piles of aggro, still, since he's spamming Spin, Ball Lightning, and his other attacks. Eviscerate and Shockwave are decent powers, but I really only use them as filler AoEs due to Eviscerate's long-feeling animation and Shockwave's knockback component.

The powers at 47 and 50 aren't set in stone, either. I made it 44 levels with Ninja Run, Lightning Reflexes, Hurdle, Sprint, and the Jump Pack/Raptor Pack, and I had very little trouble, except for that long stretch of nothing in Nerva between the main area and the place where all the later missions are in those forest ruins.

I'd like to keep Mu Lightning, though the thought had crossed my mind to ditch it for Electrifying Fences so that I could use Shockwave without worrying about KB. It's nice having two ranged ST attacks, though, especially because they recharge so quickly.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Sorry it took me so long to reply.

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Archetype: Brute
Primary: Claws
Secondary: Electric Armor
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06: Spin => Empty(6)
08: Hurdle => Empty(8)
10: Static Shield => Empty(10)
12: Lightning Field => Empty(12)
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18: Focus => Empty(18)
20: Stamina => Empty(20)
22: Lightning Reflexes => Empty(22)
24: Follow Up => Empty(24)
26: Eviscerate => Empty(26)
28: Energize => Empty(28)
30: Hasten => Empty(30)
32: Shockwave => Empty(32)
35: Power Sink => Empty(35)
38: Power Surge => Empty(38)
41: Mu Lightning => Empty(41)
44: Ball Lightning => Empty(44)
47: Swift => Empty(47)
49: Super Speed => Empty(49)

+----------------------------------------------------------------
+ Inherent Powers
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01: Brawl => Empty(1)
01: Sprint => Empty(1)
02: Rest => Empty(2)